William h



@einen tets ietnnt @ffice WILLIAM HLCONWAAY, OF HARRISON, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND J; H.v J

narran, vor BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

Leiters Patent No. 77,590, dated May 5, 1868.

IMPROVEMENT IN STEERING-APPARATUS.

'IO ALL WHOM IT MAY OONCERN:

Be it'knmvn that I, WILLIAM H. CONWAY, of Harrison, in the county of Dorchester, and State of Maryhind, have invented a new arid4 improved Side-Rudder for Ships; and do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and'exact description of the same, suilcient to enable those skilled in lthe art to which my invention appertains to make use f it, reference being had to .the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification', in whichi' Figure 1 is a perspective view.-

Figuref?, a section of the guard, showing thcmeans for operating ythe rudder.

This device is designed to assist a vessel. in turning', andi isparticularly useful in backing out steamboats from thei'r landings, enabling ,them to' be turned in 'a much` shorter vspace than when ruddcrsat the end only are used. i* i It is familiar to river-men that boats land with their bows turned against the current, to enable them 'to come upto their places accurately andltvithout too much headway.l It they are. to continue their-"journey up stream, they may back straight out; but if down stream, they are obliged to back out and then turn end for en d, an operation which is always inconvenient, and, in narrow streams, often dangerous.

To obviate thisdifculty I have invented a supplementary rudder, one ot` which is attached to each side of the vessel. The rudder outhe starboard side is used in turning the vessel to port, vand that on the port side in turning in the opposite direction.

In the drawings, A representsthe guard of a steamboat, and under it, attached by hinged rods r r, are l.

seen the supplementary rudders, B B. The rudders are irinly attached tovtheir supporting-rods, r1', and arranged so as to act nearly 'across the line'of-the vessels motion. The rods are so hinged4 thatby a cliain, e, attached towards the lower end of the rudder-s, and operated from the deck by a. capstan, I, they. may be lifted entirely out otl the water, and confined securely-under the guard, as shown in red lines at e in fig. 1`. y

The ruddersdmay be attached to the vessel before or behind the' paddle-Wheels as may in any boat be most convenient. They lwill Work to'better advantage generally ii'hen attached forward'of the wheels. When dow. ered into the-.water they stand erect in`it, making on their rear 'side an ang-le otlfabout forty-tive degrees with the wall of the ship. Whenv the vessel is backed, the water is thron'n for\vard,`and strikes the rudder, driving it forward until the chains stop it, andl cause it to stand in the position described. The impact ot' the water upon the rear side ot' vtherndder then assists in turning the vessel.

These rudders have been thoroughly tested, and it is found by practical experience that with them a vessel :an be turned in a much narrower channel than with' the end-rudders alone. They are simpleand cheap in construction, entirely out of the way, and easily operated.

Having thus described my invention, rvhat I claim as new, vand desire to secure by Letters Patent, is'- A side-rudder for steamboats, when hinged to Athe under side of the guards,in such a manner that when not in use it can be drawn up out-ot` the water, substantially as and for the purpose-set forth.

To the'above specification otmy invention, I have signed' my hand, this day `ot`- November, 1867.

W. H. CONWAY. Witnesses:

CEAS'. A.. PETTIT,

SoLoN C. KEMoN. 

